We Hide Our Pain
by The Daniellephant
Summary: Katherine Beckett and Richard Castle have a good relationship, good jobs, and generally good lives. Just the right time to throw a spanner in the works, right? AU
1. Chapter 1

The Death of Darren Anderson

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Okay, so this is my first fanfic that I've posted and I'm not entirely sure that I like it but I'd love to know what you guys think?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot bunny in my head and my little fangirl heart.

Reviews would be great

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There was no denying that Detective Kate Beckett was great with children, the way she instantly connected with them and put them at ease was proof of that. As was the great mornings she spent with her neighbour's children when they needed a babysitter on days she wasn't at work. But there was just one child she could handle but never control, and his name is Richard Castle. She didn't know what it was about him, the way he bounced back from anything with childhood innocence, the complete immaturity of his actions, or how excited he got when there was a murder, which she found a bit weird and a lot creepy, but him acting like a kid in a candy store was cute in some strange way that it really shouldn't be, because he is a grown man with a teenage daughter. But that's not the point. The point is that Kate Beckett likes kids. They're cute and fun. Teenagers aren't so cute, but they're great on a different level, you can have mature conversations with them, but still watch kids movies, eat junk food and gossip with them. Or play video games. Kate prides herself on the fact that she is an absolute kick ass at video games.

A teenager that tops the fantastic scale of all teenagers is one Alexis Castle. She can't remember whether she has ever met anyone under the age of 30 as mature and sensible as the 16 year old, and that is some achievement, considering her wild, erratic and childish father, her careless and flighty mother and her rather... eccentric grandmother. Not to say that she didn't love Martha, she did, but there was no denying the woman was mad, but wonderfully so. For instance, when Richard had invited Kate over for dinner with Alexis and Martha, the three women had the most wonderful conversations about the most random of topics, and she could honestly say she had never laughed so much since she was a teenager. In fact, it was that dinner that lit the flame on the relationship that didn't surprise anyone because everyone knew it was going to happen because there was no way two people could work so closely and be such good friends and not act on all that pent up sexual tension between them.

And Lanie had made a nice amount of money on the bet that went all the way around the NYPD about when they would get together.

So, anyway, the relationship. It had been going on for a few months, and then it came out to the NYPD, and due to these little few books Rick had written, the rest of the world. It wasn't really much if a problem, they could both deal with the press and everything was hunky-dory. But then they hit a wall.

Kate had been sitting on the couch of Richard Castle's living room when her phone rang, and she reached over to get it. If this was work... she was going to shoot something. She answered the phone, putting down her cup of coffee on the floor beside Alexis and Rick in case she had to dart off.  
"Beckett."  
"Uh... Katherine Beckett?"  
She sat up, a frown of concern clouding over her face as she shrugged at Rick's questioning look.  
"Yes?"  
"Daughter of Johanna Beckett and cousin of Darren Anderson?"  
She nodded, before remembering to give a verbal response, because the man on the phone couldn't see her.  
"Yes, that's me."  
"My name is Liam McKinley; I'm from the Seattle PD. We tried to reach you at your house, but you weren't there... I'm sorry to inform you that Darren died yesterday evening."  
She felt a pang of sadness, even though this was a man she had rarely met, a few brief times when she was younger that she could barely remember, and she saw him at a few family gatherings and her mother's funeral, but that was it. As a kid she had been scared of him, but she didn't really have an opinion on him. Even so, he was family and she felt her voice quiver.  
"How? Uh... How did he die?"  
She hoped to god that this wasn't going to be a murder enquiry that she would have to investigate. That was just something she couldn't handle at this moment.  
Apparently, the man on the phone knew what she was thinking.  
"He died of an existing heart condition; it's not being treated as suspicious, if you're wondering. We were calling because there are some issues we need to sort out."  
She got up and walked into the kitchen, her brow furrowing in confusion. Darren wasn't someone she had been close to; he lived in Seattle and had done all his life. She had no idea why they would call her for any issues... "Like what?"  
"After looking through records, we've found that you are the last existing relative of Mr. Anderson, and therefore the only existing person eligible to care for his daughter."  
"Oh, so... Wait! What? Daughter?"  
Since when did Darren have a daughter? The 46 year old man had been a fireman, which was all she knew of him, she hadn't known he had a daughter, or even was in any form of committed relationship.  
"Yes, his daughter is 15 year old Anastasia Liddle. She took her mother's maiden name, who unfortunately died a few years ago in a car crash. There are no relatives from that side of the family living within the US, so you are the only person able to care for her, unless you would rather not..."  
Kate's eyes got wider and wider as he spoke. She had a cousin, or whatever she was, what do you call a cousin's daughter? More importantly, she had a cousin she didn't know about, with no family to look after her, who would come to stay with her, probably permanently. And if she didn't take her, she knew she would end up in foster care, and she would never do that to a kid.  
"No no, of course I'll take her. Should I fly out and meet her or...?"

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I promise it gets better, but I feel like this chapter just sets up the story so idk

Review and I'll give you an internet cupcake?

Dani xx


	2. Chapter 2

The New Arrival

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Disclaimer: I still sadly do not own Castle and as much as I wish I did, Andrew Marlowe is doing a pretty good job so I'll leave it to him.

Thank you guys for all the follows and favourites! :) And thank you for the reviews!

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Alexis was beginning to get worried. Kate's phone call didn't sound like work, and she was only getting one side of the conversation, but it didn't sound good. The 16 year old already thought of the woman as a mother, much better than her actual one already, and she cared for her a lot, and she knew her dad did too. They were both getting agitated at the length of the phone call, and she had been in the kitchen for almost 30 minutes now

"What do you think it's about, dad?"

"I don't know. I don't think its work, or she would have called me over. Whatever it's about is confusing her because she's pacing and she's tapping her fingers, so I have no idea."

Alexis sighed, Kate was like a mother to her, and she didn't like not knowing what was wrong. A few minutes later, Kate emerged from the kitchen, seemingly dazed and very confused as she sat down where she had been sitting. After a best of silence, she looked at the two of them and mumbled "I have custody over my cousin's 15 year old daughter that I didn't even know existed."

A week later, Kate was pacing the waiting area of the airport, as she constantly checked to see if the flight from Seattle had gotten in yet. After almost a week of preparations and talking to staff and care workers, Anastasia was finally going to get here. And then Kate started to panic, turning to Castle, "I don't even know what she looks like! What if she doesn't like me? How am I going to know it's her? What if she doesn't want to live with us? Rick, what if she hates our jobs?"

He silenced her by pulling her into a comforting hug and smoothing a hand over her hair, aware that Kate had been having these doubts for a few days now, and well aware that some of these could be big problems.

"Kate, it'll be fine. She will love you, and she's 15, not a baby, she'll handle it fine. I promise."

Seemingly calmed by Rick's words, she turned to look at the board again and squeaked in a very un-Kate like manner. "Her flight is here!"

Alexis jumped up and smiled, pushing her hair back out of her eyes and looking around excitedly, "Where is she? Where is she?"

"Relax, Lex, she has to get out of the plane and get down here first."

Alexis nodded at her father's words, but continued to look around; very eager to meet this girl who would be her... she didn't know what she would be. Kate would be Anastasia's legal guardian, and Kate was her dad's boyfriend... and if they got married that would make her and Anastasia... sisters? She didn't know exactly, but she was still really excited to meet the 15 year old.

Richard Castle saw her before the others did, a slim young girl, with dark brunette hair hanging in loose curls below her shoulders, a pair of big nerdy glasses over her eyes, dressed in sweats and a hoodie that swamped her small figure. The only reason he knew it was her was the eyes and the mouth, that were identical to Kate's. He nudged his girlfriend and her eyes followed his, and a smile graced her face as the teenager got closer. It was then he noticed the faint dark circles under her eyes, and the way her eyes flickered around the room and at them, with a look of something he couldn't quite place in her eyes.

"Anastasia?"

She nodded and smoother her fringe away from her face, before looking up at the three people in front of her, nervously cracking her knuckles as she did so. Fairly tall for her age, she was about eye to eye with Alexis and only a little bit shorter than Kate, but more than a bit shorter than Rick. Kate smiles at her, "I'm Kate, this is my boyfriend Rick, and his daughter Alexis."

She nodded and gave them a quiet smile, and Rick had to stop himself smiling at her shyness, her manner almost a replica of Alexis' when she was around new people, but there was something different about her actions, he expected her to be nervous, she was meeting people she had never met before and was now going to live with, but there was something else there. She looked utterly petrified. Interrupting the silence, he picked up her suitcase and looked at her, "Is this all you have with you?"

"The rest of my things are being brought over on Monday. These are just my clothes and things that I need for now." She spoke quietly, and extremely politely, falling back behind the three of them as they walked.

Standing in the guest bedroom, Kate placed the suitcase beside the bed, "We're going to redecorate your room this weekend, so you can have it however you want. Is there anything specific you want?"

She watched the teenager think it over for a minute, looking around the room before due asked, "Could I have wooden floors? I mean, if I can't its fine..."  
"Of course you can."

"And uh... well... in my old room..." She stopped talking, aware of how much her old room had cost to refurbish, simply because of the expense of the things she had in it.

Kate smiled at her, "Rick is a best-selling novel writer, and I assure you that there is nothing too expensive that he wouldn't put in here for you. Except for a golden chandelier or something."

Anastasia laughed at that, even if it was only quiet. But she looked at Kate, "In my old room I had this huge wooden wardrobe. I don't know, I just really like dark stained wood."

Kate smiled, telling Anastasia she would get Rick to hire done decorators that the young girl could be in charge of, and take her shopping for the furniture before leaving to find her boyfriend.

Just before she reached the door, the teenager spoke "Thank you, for all of this."

She gave her a smile, "No problem. You're part of the family."

_Part of the family._

Anastasia smiled, that sounded pretty good.

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Finding him in his office, she stood behind him and placed her hand on his shoulders, watching over his shoulder as his fingers flew over the keyboard.  
"Hey."

"How is Anastasia?"

He stopped typing and spun round in his chair to face her, holding onto her hands as he brushed his thumb over her wrist.

"We were talking about her room, and I think she's still a bit shy and a bit scared. But she wants wooden floors, which is pretty easy." Kate smiled.

In the next hour before lunch, they talked about the two very well behaved children in the loft and how badly behaved they were as children and teenagers. Alexis found them sprawled on the couch, Kate wrapped in her day's arms, both adults laughing uncontrollably at their conversation.

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Could you two set the table? I'm going to get Anastasia." With that she disappeared and made her way upstairs.

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Reviews mean telepathic brownies!

Dani xx


	3. Chapter 3

**The Incident In The Kitchen**

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**Thankyou so much for all the favourites and follows, and the reviews and PM's are super helpful! **

**I'm a bit lost with what I'm doing but here's hoping I figure it out :)**

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Alexis' first encounter with Anastasia had been in the car, when she had tried to start up a conversation while Rick and Kate had their own, but she didn't have much luck.  
The younger girl shrank back into the corner of the car, as far away from everyone as she could, and hummed quietly to herself, and her face showed panicked looks every time Alexis spoke. Not to back down easily, Alexis decided she was going to make her feel happy and at home no matter what, as her kind of big sister, it was her job.

Knocking on the guest room door, Alexis waited until the door was opened slightly and Anastasia's face appeared in the small gap, before she checked who it was and opened the door fully.  
Walking into the room, she saw the younger girl close the door behind them, and returned to sit on the floor beside an open book. She slipped a bookmark onto the page and closed the book, before wrapping her arms around her knees and looking up at Alexis.

Noting the strange behaviour, Alexis shrugged it off; it must just be something the girl does, sitting on the floor, like how she always sits next to the window. She smiled at the brunette, "So, how do you like it here so far?"

The smile wasn't returned, and she simply said, "It seems nice."

"Was your flight ok?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry that your dad died."

"Thanks."

"Do you like your room?"

"It's lovely."

"Why are you sitting on the floor?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her as her patience wavered, getting tired of the too-polite, very short answers.

"I don't like not being able to see the door."

What a strange reason, Alexis thought, but didn't say anything. She stood up and shot the younger girl a bright smile, "Dinner will be ready now, come on."

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Dinner was a strange affair; Alexis had made spaghetti carbonara, which they all loved, even if Anastasia only had about half a plateful, before claiming she was full. Since Rick had already finished his by then, the two of them sat down on the couch while they waited for the other two. This was when he noticed that she was perched on the edge of the couch, at the very side, squished up against the arm.  
It was a peculiar position, but he sighed when he realised she was trying to get as far away from him as possible. Of course, that was completely rational, he was a total stranger to her, and he was very aware he wasn't the most normal person, so he tried to not be offended. Maybe it was just because she connected more with the other two because she's a girl.

Later that evening, Alexis had left to go out with Paige, and Anastasia had quickly locked herself in her room the second she had the chance to, leaving the two of them sitting on the couch, Kate wrapped in his arms, with her head resting on his shoulder. He stroked her hair lightly, seeing her eyes finally close as the TV quietly played old the Temptation Lane re-runs she put on when she was tired or stressed, and if he had to guess, she was probably both today. He fell asleep like that, with the delicate smell of cherries wafting over him as her hair sprawled over his chest. This was a regular occurrence on their calm nights in, they fell asleep, woke a few hours later, then dragged themselves up to bed and fell asleep there, where it was much more comfortable. They had been doing this for over a year now, even though they had only been dating for 8 months or so, but it was probably his favourite part of weekends with her. Of course, the sex was amazing, but sometimes calm and relaxed was what they needed, especially with their, ok, her job.

Kate was the first one to stir, and when she looked up through her lashes she saw that Rick was fast asleep, and wouldn't be waking soon. It mustn't have been him that woke her, so she looked across at the clock and saw it wasn't even an hour after she had fallen asleep. She usually slept for longer than that, but she was awake now, so she untangled herself from her boyfriend's arms and stood up, stretching before she heard a muffled sound from the kitchen, and subconsciously reached for her gun, which wasn't there because she put it away as soon as she got back from work yesterday, but it was a force of habit she'd developed over the years. Making her way into the kitchen, she frowned when she saw Anastasia jumping around slightly, holding her hip and wincing painfully, muttering as she did so.

"Shit. Stupid door handle."

The young girl was facing away from Kate, and hadn't noticed her yet, so she cleared her thought in an attempt to not scare her. It didn't work.  
Jumping around as soon as she heard the noise and stepping back, the teenager looked terrified and backed herself to the wall, looking at Kate with wary eyes.

"I, uh... came down to get a drink... I'm sorry for waking you"

She nodded, and walked towards her, holding out her hand and looking at her softly, covering up her frown at what the teenager had whispered.

"Did you hurt your hip?"

She didn't speak, just nodded.

"Come here, me see."

If she had let thought Anastasia was scared beforehand, she was absolutely petrified now, and shook her head quickly, looking towards the stairs as if they were going to help her.

Kate walked towards her and took both of her hands, pulling her to the middle of the kitchen and then let go with one hand to gesture to the  
counter top.

"Up."

She pushed herself up onto the counter and crossed her ankles, looking at Kate, who was now an inch or two shorter than her.

"Let me see your hip."

She sighed and focused her eyes on the ceiling above Kate's head, lifting up her baggy top to show Kate a small section of her hip, where a red mark had shown up. But she knew what was coming, the Detective part of Kate would be satisfied with this, maybe, but the motherly side she had seen so far wouldn't be. When she felt Kate's cold hands ghost over the skin around the red mark to lift her shirt up, she heard the gasp and she refused to look down at the horrified eyes of her guardian.

Kate lifted up the top up to see a variation of red and pink slashes along the underneath and side of the teenager's ribs and along the bone of her hip. Some were only scratches but… that looked an awful lot like a stab wound. She couldn't hold back the gasp, and looked up at the teenager, but her face was blank and her eyes didn't even flicker from the ceiling she was looking at. She looked at the red mark and saw that it had cut the skin, but wasn't bleeding, so reached for the disinfectant to clean the cut, and got out a band aid to cover it with. After applying both, she tapped Anastasia's knee and stepped back.

"You can get down now."

She did, swiftly landing on her feet before Kate handed her a glass of water, taking a drink from her own glass, resting against the bench.

"I fell on some glass, it's nothing. It looks a lot worse than it really is."

_Please don't ask anymore._

"Do they hurt?"

_I know that's not true._

"Not really."

_Yes._

"Tell me if they're bothering you, ok?"

_Tell me if anything is wrong, please?_

"Ok."

_Maybe._

Their exchange was slow, both of them trying to careful about the words slipping out of their mouths, and Kate finished her water and placed the glass in the sink, and then Anastasia did so herself.

"It's late, I should go to bed."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

She trailed her fingers along the long sleeves of her top, pulling it tight around her wrists as she gave an awkward little wave and made her way to the stairs and walked up, looking over her shoulder at the top before disappearing into the guest bedroom.  
She needed to talk to him about this, he had handled a teenage daughter before, but she hadn't. Maybe he knew what to do.  
Making her way to the couch, she sat on the edge beside his feet and took a hold of his hands, pulling him off with all her strength until he was sat up straight, at which point he opened his eyes and blinked sleepily at her.

"Kate. S'early."

"Wake up, Castle."

"Must be in trouble, what'd I do, Katie? Swear I didn't leave dirty socks on the floor. Promise." He mumbled, never being one to respond well to being woken up. After a few seconds he rubbed his eyes and looked up at her.

"You ok?"  
She shook her head, pulling on his hand until he stood up, and then started walking towards his study, him following close behind her. The study was their favourite room, the furthest away from every other room in house, specifically the other bedrooms, and it was their peaceful place where he would write and she would supply handy titbits of information when asked, or just sit and read when he didn't need any help. Sitting on his chair, he watched as she paced the length of the room, opening her mouth to speak a dozen times, at least, before closing it again to think, and continue pacing. Eventually, she spoke, even if it was only thinking out loud.

"When I was 15, I hung out with all the girls and we obsessed over hot celebrities and went shopping a lot. Some of the other girls, they did the whole hanging out with older guys, drinking and drugs thing because they had problems with parents. There are always some of them in every grade. At that age, everyone had some level of trouble with their parent's right? Like communication issues or hating them and not doing what you're told. Everyone had that at 15?" She waited for his nod before she continued, "But if something really important and really bad was happening to you, would you have told your mom?"

"Important and bad, how?"

"Like... physical abuse bad."  
He didn't know where this was going, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. Because if she said that when she was younger, somebody had hurt her... he was going to lose it.

"Me personally? Yeah. The people I knew? Probably no. Are we talking boys or girls here?"

"Girls."

"Then it depends on how close they were to the parents. Probably yes. Why?"

She didn't answer him, just nodded and continued pacing, muttering to herself as she did so. He didn't catch any of the words, but he was getting increasingly worried with this. He stood up and wrapped his arms around her, stopping her walking before he turned her to face him and rested his forehead against hers.

"Tell me you aren't talking about you, Kate."

"What?"

"Tell me that we aren't talking about this happening to you." She heard the break in his voice, and she wrapped her arms around him, closing her eyes.

"Gosh, no! I wasn't... that's not what I meant. I'm so sorry you thought that's what it was. Nothing like that happened to me."

"Thank god."

"I... Anastasia was in the kitchen, and she banged her hip, so I had a look at and oh my gosh, Rick, she looked like she's been in a battle! She's covered in cuts and marks and they're all the way over her ribs and across her hips, and I know she said they're from a fall, but I can't help thinking that's not true. I've seen too many cases with abused victims, in domestics, in child abuse, in molestation, and I can't stop thinking about how much it looks like that. She's only 15! I don't want it to be true, because I would love to think nobody would ever do that to a little girl, but I've seen these monsters! I've arrested them, and I've shot them, and they've shot me, and I've hunted so many of them. I know they're out there! I can't stop thinking about it! Rick, tell me I'm wrong." Her voice shook as she looked up at him, "I could swear that they were stab wounds…"

"I can't tell you that it's normal, I can't tell you that those bruises are definitely from cheerleading, or something like that or not, but I can tell you that you need to calm down. Talk to her about this; take her out somewhere she's comfortable with. Her things are being dropped off on Monday, maybe she'll be more open then, when she feels like this is actually her home."

She leant her head against his shoulder and nodded, before he picked her up and carried her to bed, where they fell asleep the moment their heads hit the pillows.

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Please review :)


	4. Chapter 4

These Are My Friends

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Again, I don't own anything, but I wish I did :)

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Sunday was an uneventful day, nobody had any plans and nobody felt the need to do anything.

Alexis and Martha spent the day looking through magazines and picking out dresses, trying but not succeeding to involve both Anastasia and Kate in their conversation. Rick had been holed up in his study writing, but after a lack of inspiration decided to join the rest of them in the lounge. With Martha and Alexis taking over the couch, Richard sitting in the comfy chair and Kate resting on his lap, Anastasia chose to sit on the floor in between them. Of course, Martha and Alexis offered her space on the couch, but she declined, reasoning that the floor was comfortable.

Monday, however, was as far from uneventful as any day in her life had been.

The family were woken at 6 in the morning by the loudest knocking on the door they had ever heard, which Rick and Kate both rushes to in their t shirts and shorts, to reveal several young men standing there.

In the middle of him questioning who they were, Rick's sentence was interrupted by a shriek and a 15 year old brunette launching herself at one of the men standing at the door. Kate raised an eyebrow from her place behind her boyfriend, feeling rather self-conscious wearing only a baggy t shirt and some extremely short pajama shorts.

The teenager continued to hug the men, who were clearly a lot older than her, most of them looked old enough to be at college, and looked far too friendly with the young girl for Richard Castle's liking. Especially when that young girl was only clothed in a tank top and a pair of hello kitty shorts, and currently being piggybacked into the living room by one of the men. Anastasia looked at Kate and smiled shyly,

"Um, these are my friends; they're here with the rest of my stuff."

After changing into suitable clothes for moving furniture, jeans a t shirt for Rick, sweats and a t shirt for Kate, a too-big Harvard t shirt and some denim shorts for Anastasia, and bare chested with jeans for the group of men Rick had yet to learn the names of. Martha and Alexis, watching from the kitchen, had not learnt their names either, and were simply appreciating the gorgeously defined muscles of the shirtless men that were now on display, and it looked like every single one of them spent a decent amount of time at the gym.

Gradually, Kate learnt that the oldest of the men, at 22, was Adrian, a tall, well-built blonde that looked like he had just been picked up from an Bondi beach and dropped into New York, but that tan was the result of his 5 week holiday in Spain, cut short be the death of Anastasia's father, because he came back to help her handle it.

The next man the detective and writer were introduced to was 21 year old Erik, a tall, dark and handsome young man with a variation of tattoo's down one arm, and extremely intimidating, even to Kate, who had faced down the most terrifying criminals in New York.

He faced down Rick the moment that Kate and Anastasia left, explaining to him, not so nicely, that if he ever did anything to hurt the 15 year old, they would hurt him in ways he couldn't dream up to put in his books.

"Have you got all her papers?"

"Yes, Kate has them."

"What about her medical record?"

"I'm not sure... Why?"

"You think you've dealt with monsters? Wait until you see that file."

Their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Anastasia, her brunette hair bouncing in waves as she ran over to them, grabbing Erik's hand and pulling him up the stairs.

"...you HAVE to see the view from my window. Oh, and have you talked to Bailey this week? Her and Sam..."

In the process of moving everything into the teenager's room, Rick, Kate, Anastasia, and two of the other men, Marcus and Liam, were arranging the furniture in her room.

Marcus, a 19 year old Brit that had known Anastasia through their parents, who vacationed together most Christmas and summer holidays and Liam, a 17 year old that had been to school with Anastasia most of his life, was happy that his summer vacation wouldn't all be spent doing nothing, had both been happy to come down to New York to see her.

"Who is in this photo?" Anastasia looked up at the framed photo strip from summer last year that Kate was holding, of her with her arms wrapped around a boy, then kissing his cheek, then laughing with him, then him kissing her cheek. She took one look at the photos and saw the others did too, noticing that her two friends immediately tensed up, and dreaded the answer she had to give.

"That's Ryan... we were friends back in Seattle."

If the detective saw the two young men roll their eyes and grit their teeth at the teenager's statement, she didn't say anything, and turned back to taking pictures out of the boxes. Thankfully, the next two hours were free from awkward mishaps and questions, and just filled with nice conversations about the music the 5 of them listened to, while they moved her clothes and books into the room.

Opening another cardboard box, Marcus's fists clenched and he stepped back, as if something was physically causing him pain. This time the detective definitely noticed, and so did Rick. Quickly fleeing the room, the 19 year old dashed down the stairs and the remaining 4 heard a shout of "Adrian! Go help them with the boxes?"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"It's the box of all the stuff from last summer… I just can't do that."

"Ok."

With that, Adrian walked into the room, a happy smile plastered onto his face, and dropped a kiss to Anastasia's cheek before tipping the contents of the box onto the bed.

Anastasia looked up at him with worried eyes, and her lip wobbled as she looked between her friend and the door. Thomas and Kyle stood in the doorway, and once Adrian nodded at them, the two 20 year old's followed Marcus.  
"He's fine, sweetie. He just... you know."

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That night, with Alexis and Martha out shopping, and Anastasia and her friends in her room, the two adults were standing in the kitchen with a glass of champagne each.

"You know, her friends are a lot older than her…"

Kate smiled, well accustomed to this side of her boyfriend, before setting down her glass and wrapping her arms loosely around his waist.

"She's 15, Rick. She will be perfectly fine."

"And they are all older boys! I know exactly what boys their age want from a younger girl."

Rolling her eyes, she held back the smile on her lips. Seeing him this overprotective over the 15 year old was rather cute, not that she would ever tell him that.

Resting her head against his chest, she smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. These moments, where he just held her were possibly her favourite, of course she loved their other… activities but when he held her like this, she felt safe and happy. Actually, just being with Rick made her happy, most of the time anyway. Of course, they had more than their fair share of fights, because he got too protective of her and tried too hard to push her sometimes, and because she was too stubborn to accept any help when something was wrong, and she would always put the safety of others before her own.

She had almost lost him too many times already, to lose him to a mad gunman or a bomb going off because of his stupidity and his need to impress her, and there was no way he was going to lose her because she tried to save someone else and got herself killed in the process. They weren't going to lose each other; they weren't going to let each other go.

"Anyway, I wouldn't let you get away from me that easily."

"Ah, Detective, how would you get rid of me then? Shoot me? No, too ordinary. Stab me? No, leaves too much evidence."

"I think I'll keep all the ways I could kill you to myself. I might need them if you go all protective again." He chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before grinning at her.

"I'll hold you to that."

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Please review! :)

We're only a few weeks into hiatus and I'm already dying...

TIME TO REWATCH ALL THE CASTLE EPISODES!


	5. Chapter 5

Pancakes and Motorbikes

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As usual, I don't own anything :)

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Waking up in the warm and comfortable embrace of her boyfriend, Kate looked around their room and smiled before burying her head back into the pillow. She heard a giggle from outside her room and heard her boyfriend sit up beside.

Okay, he heard it too, so that meant she wasn't going mad.

She didn't recognise the giggle, and she jumped out of the bed to make her way to the door. From her spot behind the door, she could hear better what was going on outside.

A girly giggle sounded again, and then there was another laugh that she hadn't heard before.

_"Ann, don't be such a baby."_

_"No I'm not going to do it. And don't make the face."_

_"What face?"_

_"That face, the really attractive face you make that makes me do whatever you tell me to do. Last time you used that face, I got in a lot of trouble."_

Pulling on a pair of jeans and a t shirt as she listened to the conversation, she looked back to see that Rick had gotten ready too. She smirked at him, running a hand down his face and placing a peck on his lips before they both left their room to greet the scene in the kitchen.

Anastasia was wearing some shorts and a t shirt that was tied just above her belly button, currently perched on a chair at the breakfast table. Around her were the young men from yesterday, lounging on the chairs or resting against the table.

Seeing the teenager so happy and carefree, the couple watching couldn't help but smile as they made their way towards them. Kate hoped the girl would be this happy here eventually, because she had already slotted herself straight into their family without realising it. Alexis ran down the stairs and stopped in front of them, "What time are we leaving?"

"Huh?" Kate broke her gaze from Anastasia and turned to Alexis, not having heard what the red head had said.

"It's picnic day. What time are we leaving? John wants to know what time we're meeting."

The teenager looked at her father and Kate impatiently; she thought Kate as her mother, it just seemed right to think of them like that after all the woman had done for her, but they were both annoying her a little now. Sure, Anastasia was settling in and they were trying to make her feel comfortable, but they were practically ignoring everything else in their lives, specifically her. The girl wasn't even anything special; sure, she was reasonably pretty but just quite plain. Another thing that was annoying her was that all these boys in her house that were disturbing her, eating all her food and taking up all the seats. And the fact that they all seemed infatuated y the 15 year old. She really didn't understand what everyone saw in her, she was impolite and ignored Alexis whenever she had tried to be nice, so she wasn't going to be nice anymore. At least John would pay some attention to her today, even if her dad didn't like the guy much. He was cute and fun and she really liked him, and he always paid attention to her, unlike her dad lately. Actually, it wasn't even just lately, it was since things between him and Kate got serious, but she liked Kate so she had kept quiet and tried not to let it bother her, after all, she was _the one _for her dad, and who was she to get in the way of that?

Picnic day was a long running tradition in the Castle household, and the tradition had gone on for about 2 years now. The first Tuesday of every month, Kate, Richard, Alexis and sometimes Martha would go to the park for a few hours, just to walk around and talk and maybe get an ice cream. A while back, Alexis had started bringing John along, which was fine, because then they each got to talk to their other half.

It hadn't dawned on either of them that today was Picnic day, since Kate was off work to help Anastasia get settled in and she had forgotten what day of the week it was. She turned to Alexis, who was waiting patiently for an answer and smiled, "We'll meet you at the usual spot at 4, okay?"

Alexis nodded then grabbed her bag and walked out of the door to go to school, leaving with a "Bye everyone."

As they stood in the kitchen making pancakes, the couple were lost in their own little world and completely forgot that anybody else was there at all, as Rick reached around Kate to get the sugar, planting a kiss on her cheek softly. She grinned back at him, and they probably would have gotten lost in each other's gaze if it had not been for the conversation going on behind them.

Adrian smirked as he watched the couple, before he looked across to his friend, "See Ann, it's cute. All couple-y and lovey dovey."

The men around him laughed softly before Liam piped up, "But Anastasia will never get that, because she's scared of relationships."

"I am _not _scared of relationships. I'm not scared of anything."

"Except commitment."

The teenager turned around to glare at her friends as they all laughed, as if it was the most hilarious thing in the world. This was a long running joke between them, that she had never really found funny, but they all thought they were comedians so she let them have it. Resting against Adrian, she looked over at Kate and Richard. Could they be classed as her parents now? Technically they were her guardians… but she didn't really know them that well yet.

Her family had always been, and always would be, the people back in Seattle she had grown up with and practically been raised by. She missed them a lot, but the boys being here made it all a bit easier to deal with, even if it meant she had to deal with all their bad jokes.

"So who wants to come to the park later?"

The room when silent as the boys looked at each other, and the detective and the writer observed as they communicated with nods and looks, before they all turned back and Marcus spoke. "I can't, me and Liam are going home today." Thomas and Kyle looked at each other for a few seconds, before the elder of the two, Kyle looked at the 15 year old, "Tom and I have things to do, sorry munchkin."

Erik was the next to speak, and he shared a look with Adrian before he shrugged, "I promised Lex I'd go pick up her dress today, but other than that I'm not busy."

Anastasia turned in her seat and looked up at Adrian, the oldest of the young men, and pouted at him, "Adrian?"

"If I'm not allowed to make the face then neither are you. But okay, I'll come."

She jumped up and laughed before turning to Kate, "Can I ride with Adrian? Please."

"Um, sure."

"Yes! Do you still have my helmet?"

He rolled his eyes at her, dropping a kiss to her temple before he deadpanned, "No, I'm going to let you ride on the back of my Harley without a helmet."

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